Ahluwalia says not in race for IMF chief post

NEW DELHI Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday he was not putting forward his name for the International Monetary Fund chief's post.

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been charged with trying to rape a hotel maid in New York, a scandal that upends his plans to run in France's presidential election and which throws the leadership of the global lender into turmoil.

Emerging countries are starting to flex their muscle over who should succeed Strauss-Kahn, who had been expected to leave soon anyway to run for French president. The job has been a virtual sinecure for Europeans. They have held all 10 managing director positions since the fund was created in 1945, and four of them have been Frenchmen.

"I am not putting my name forward for any of these things. I am quite happy with what I am doing. I am not looking for a change," Ahluwalia told Reuters.

Asked whether India will look for non-European or emerging markets candidate for the IMF chief post, he said the finance ministry will take a decision on India's stand.

MUMBAI State Bank of India has agreed to sell a 3.9 percent stake in its life insurance arm to affiliates of KKR and Temasek for 17.94 billion rupees ($266 million), the nation's biggest lender said on Friday.